WPP Group CEO Sir Martin
Sorrell visits Fox Business Network's 'Opening Bell' at FOX
Studios on May 15, 2015 in New York City.Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

A third (33.45%) of advertising firm WPP's shareholders voted
against CEO Sir Martin Sorrell's £70.4 million ($100.3 million)
2015 pay deal at the company's annual general meetings in London
on Wednesday.

The majority (around 90%) of Sorrell's pay is based on his
performance. Sorrell's 2015 total compensation included £63
million ($90.9 million) in share awards and a £4.2 million ($6.6
million) annual bonus.

His remuneration was devised from a long-term incentive plan
(LEAP), where executives pledge their own equity, which 89% of
shareholders voted in favor of in 2009.

Essentially, the payout is based on a scheme shareholders
approved that has taken five years to run out.

Several WPP shareholders raised concerns about Sorrell's
compensation at the meeting on Wednesday.

In response to a question from one WPP shareholder, who deemed
Sorrell's compensation "excessive", Sir John Hood, the chair of
the company's remuneration committee, said: "I learned that
financial performance in the future is something that needs to be
thought about probabilistically."

In other words, many WPP shareholders probably didn't expect the
company to perform as well as it did over the five-year period
when they initially voted the policy in.

Roberto Quarta, WPP chairman, added that remuneration decisions
were not made in a "vacuum".

He added: "I want to make it very clear it's the shareholders we
engage with, we consult with, we discuss with, we debate with, we
argue with, and in the end we come to an agreement and we then
take to the plan to the annual general meeting and we ask
shareholders, as a whole, to vote."

Despite these reassurances, a representative from charity
ShareAction said this year's LEAP package "goes a step too far".
The ShareAction representative said it would take someone on the
national living wage 4,394 years to earn Sorrell's salary.

Sorrell later went on to explain that he reinvests a substantial
amount of his earnings back into the company.

There were also a number of questions from shareholders about
WPP's succession planning. Sorrell, who founded the company in
1984, is 71-years-old.

Quarta said succession planning was a "work in process" and the
board is continuously assessing both internal and external
candidates.